


Public Skating

by TempestFlame



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 12:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16744108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TempestFlame/pseuds/TempestFlame
Summary: Just what it says on the tin, aka Yuuri and Victor go skating





	Public Skating

Yuuri didn’t know what Victor was doing.

Of course, that was usually true, but this specific instance was a little more nerve-wracking than usual. Victor had announced a surprise date and practically dragged Yuuri out to the car, refusing to answer a single question. All Yuuri knew was that their unspecified location was at least a few towns away, and he’d only figured that out from the drive itself.

Victor turned down a side street, and a large, metal building came into view. On its side was a logo with a skate and a hockey stick, which could really only mean one thing.

“Victor, are we going… to an ice rink?”

“We are!” Victor’s smile stretched across his face, and a playful sparkle danced in his eyes. Yuuri knew that look- it said _there’s a joke you’re not getting._

“And… there are other people here?” Yuuri asked as Victor parked the car between two other vehicles. The parking lot was more crowded than any of his home rinks had ever been for practices. “Do you know the coaches here or something?”

“Not exactly.” Victor said with that same too-pleased, almost-laughing smile.

Yuuri looked around at the other cars- he didn’t recognize any of them, so it probably wasn’t some surprise get-together with their friends. And why this rink, not the one in their town that they still used regularly? Distracted by the puzzle, he didn’t realize his husband had left the car until Victor opened his door for him. “Ready?”

“That depends on what we’re doing.” he said, stepping out of the car.

“Relax, Yuuri,” Victor said, pressing a quick kiss to the top of his head. “We’re just skating.” The same grin stayed plastered to his face as he closed the car door and grabbed Yuuri’s hand. “Come on.”

They walked towards the rink, and this time, Yuuri made sure to reach the door first to hold it for Victor. As he entered the lobby, he looked around, surprised. There were a lot of people there- families, couples, groups of teenagers- and all of them had skates on, or were tying them up.

“Victor, is this… are we here for public skating?”

Victor’s eyes lit up even more, somehow. “You know, I think we are.” He glanced at Yuuri’s bewildered look and chuckled. “And you, my darling husband,” he said, pausing to grab Yuuri’s hand and kiss his wedding ring, “are going to teach me how to skate.”

Yuuri knew Victor’s face well enough to know he was serious. “Do I need to remind you that you’re a six-time world champion? Or an Olympic medalist? Or that you used to hold _world records?”_

Victor softened his gaze and looked into Yuuri’s eyes pleadingly. Yuuri felt his cheeks warm. He could have written a book on his husband’s charms, but that didn’t mean he was immune to them.

“Do I need to remind _you,_ ” Victor said, “how much I love you?”

“.... what?”

“Exactly.” A triumphant smile stretched across Victor’s face, as if he’d just used a perfectly logical argument. “Go buy our admission- I need to put on my disguise.”

A few minutes and exchanged rubles later, Yuuri came back to … Victor, looking the same as ever, but wearing a beanie over his hair, and a pair of glasses. Yuuri laughed. The idea that no one would recognize Victor here, on an ice rink in _Russia_ , was ridiculous, unless maybe Yuuri was overestimating how recognizable Victor was. That was possible- most people, Yuuri reminded himself, didn’t wake up next to this man every day. And most people hadn’t had sixteen posters of him since childhood. Victor’s hair was covered, and he didn’t have any makeup on now, so maybe people who had only ever seen him skate on TV wouldn’t be able to tell?

No, Yuuri decided, they definitely would. But how Victor planned to deal with that was his problem.

 

 

It was twenty minutes before Yuuri saw the first stares. Mostly everyone here seemed pretty new, so it had been a while before they could concentrate on anything but moving and not falling over. And he had been drawing a few quick looks from the start- a Japanese man in Russia, skating too smoothly to blend in.

But one couple was skating well enough to look around a little more, and their eyes landed on Victor- who despite his best efforts, was still a little too graceful for a beginner. One of the women whispered something to the other, and while they didn’t say anything, Yuuri could see them glancing over at the two of them every so often.

“Come on, Yuuri, how are my crossovers looking?” Victor said, tripping over his own skate on purpose. “See, this is why you need to pay more attention to your student!”

Yuuri helped him up- Victor stumbled and just _happened_ to steady himself by grabbing Yuuri’s waist. “Your crossovers are really good for someone who just started skating twenty minutes ago.”

“I guess I’m a fast learner.” Victor’s grin returned, and Yuuri couldn’t help but smile back. Yes, it was still a stupid idea, but Victor was just so happy learning to skate that Yuuri had to humor him.

“You did fall though. See, here…” he demonstrated the move, “you need to pick your skate up a little more so it won’t hit your other foot. Try to make each step a little longer- spend a little more time gliding on each foot.”

Victor copied him, only remembering at the end to stumble. Even his deliberate falls were graceful enough to take Yuuri’s breath away.

“Let me try again.” Victor said.

 

 

After ten more minutes, they were carefully skating backwards when a teenage girl made her way over to them. A few other teenagers hung behind her, giggling.

“Excuse me,” she said, looking at Victor. “Are you, um, has anyone ever told you that you look like Victor Nikiforov?” Her friends laughed behind her- Yuuri wondered if it had been a dare.

Victor smiled, and when he spoke, his voice was pitched just a bit lower than usual, with a slightly different accent- Yuuri still wasn’t good enough at Russian to say exactly what had been changed, but he could tell it was there.

“Oh, people do, actually. Makes sense that I should learn to skate if someone who looks just like me is so good.”

“So you’re not him?” she said, and then blushed. “Sorry, my friends said… you just look a lot like him, we were wondering.”

“No, I’m certainly not Victor Nikiforov.” Victor smiled gently at the girl, who looked a little less mortified. “But it was nice meeting you anyway.”

The fact that Victor had carefully spared this girl’s feelings, and had done it, technically, without lying, made Yuuri love his husband even more.

 

 

After an hour, they were doing basic spins in the middle of the rink. Yuuri knew everyone was staring, and that Victor’s ‘disguise’ was not going to hold up much longer, but he didn’t care, not when Victor was laughing so much, smiling at Yuuri so beautifully that Yuuri thought his heart would melt.

Back when they'd met, Victor would never have done this. Skating had been a chore for him, and he'd dreaded going back onto the ice every day. He would have retired much earlier, he'd confided in Yuuri, if he'd thought he'd had anywhere else to go.

But things were different now, and had been for years. Victor loved the ice again, almost as much as he loved poodles or long hugs or suit shopping. To see Victor so happy just to be skating was worth every stare directed their way.

 

 

Yuuri guided Victor through a Biellman. He’d tried to teach it to Victor before, but Victor’s back had never quite been flexible enough for him to grab his foot behind him, not even when they were competing. Now, Victor didn’t have a chance, but he cheerfully missed his skate again and again, asking Yuuri to demonstrate again because his spins were just so pretty, and could Yuuri show him what muscle in his thigh he needed to flex? No, could he touch Victor’s thigh, just to clarify exactly which muscle?

After another failed attempt, Victor skated over to the benches to stretch his back. “I still don’t know how you were ever able to do these.”

“Ballet helps.” Yuuri said. “So does having Yuri as a teacher.”

“Right, I forgot he taught you this one.”

“And it’s nice to not be such an old man.” Yuuri finished with a smirk.

“Ah, Yuuri, how could you?” Victor collapsed on the bench, going limp. “Just leave me here… my husband’s so cruel to me…”

Yuuri leaned down and kissed Victor’s forehead. “Show me a good sit spin and I’ll never say it again.”

“You’re such a bad liar,” Victor said, but got up anyway.

 

 

They finished the session holding hands, skating slow laps together. When time was up, they left the rink and sat to unlace their skates.

“This was nice.” Yuuri said quietly.

“It was.” Victor agreed.

And this was something else Yuuri loved about his husband- while he loved talking to Victor, he also loved how simple it was for them to sit in easy silence, wiping down their skates and putting soakers on their blades. It felt domestic, and familiar, and safe, and he knew he would never get bored of these pieces of his life.

Yuuri was so comfortable in that moment that it took him a second to notice the crowd of people watching them.

“I think they’ve seen through your incredible disguise.” he said.

Victor looked up, smirked, removed his glasses, and pulled his hat off, letting his silver hair tumble down his back. “Shall we?”

Before they could even stand up, the same teenage girl from earlier rushed towards them, an indignant look on her face. “I _knew_ it! You _are_ Victor Nikiforov!”

Victor’s innocent smile showed no trace of shame. “It’s Victor _Katsuki_ -Nikiforov, actually, ever since I married this lovely man, Yuuri Katsuki-Nikiforov.” Victor grabbed Yuuri’s hand and brought it up to his lips, his eyes on Yuuri’s the whole time.

The girl looked at Yuuri, startled. “Oh! Yuuri, I mean, Mr. Katsuki, uh, Nikiforov, I’m so sorry I didn’t recognize you! I know you’re also very good-”

“Please, just Yuuri is fine.”

“Right. Okay.” She took a breath and visibly relaxed. “Can I have a picture with the two of you?”

 

 

Victor and Yuuri took the time to speak with every person in the small crowd. They signed autographs and posed for pictures, thanking their fans every time. Yuuri wasn’t always recognized, which didn’t surprise him- he only had two world titles to Victor’s six, no Olympic medals, and, of course, he was Japanese. Many people, however, did know him, and seemed thrilled to be talking to him.

Being famous was still strange.

Yuuri finished answering a young boy’s questions (yes, he could do those spinny jumps!) and looked across the room, to where Victor was posing for a picture with another fan. Victor smiled for the picture, and then looked up at Yuuri, making Yuuri’s heart flutter in his chest.

He’d seen Victor’s press smile far too often- it was in most of the posters from his childhood bedroom, for one, and he’d seen it up close when they’d first met, before Victor had relaxed into being himself. Even after that, it was always there for the podium photos and the interviews and the press conferences, and he’d expected to see it here as well.

Instead, Victor was looking back at him with so much genuine delight that it took his breath away. Victor had a lot of different smiles, and Yuuri had seen so many of them today, but the one he saw now was his favorite. There was so much love there, of course, the kind of love that surprised Yuuri every day with its depth. With that was a simple contentment- this is enough, the smile said, enough to be satisfied, enough to be truly happy. And shining brightest was a childlike excitement in spending the rest of their lives together, doing whatever stupid, silly thing Victor had thought of that day.

That devotion and fulfillment and joy on Victor's face made Victor's smile the most beautiful thing Yuuri had ever seen.

Yuuri didn’t realize he had the exact same look on his face as he smiled back.


End file.
